Want to be the lawyer of the future? Bridge the gap between law and technology!

michaelzakkovision
Apr 9, 2024
4 min read

Updated: Mar 26

Author: Dóra Szentkereszti

Publication date: 09.04.2024

The future of law is closely connected to the development of technology. The pace of change has accelerated with the digital shift, and lawyers increasingly need to be technologically competent. Professionals who can bridge the gap between law and technology will play a key role in the future.

The gap between law and technology

Law professionals are used to the constancy of change and lifelong learning, which has been a common expectation in the profession, along with the need to adapt quickly and effectively. The pace of change has escalated with the digital shift driven by COVID-19. With the advance of generative artificial intelligence, the pace has accelerated further and the fourth industrial revolution is almost upon us.

Currently, there is a gap between the market demand and supply for lawyers with a high level of technological expertise. So what is needed is an innovative lawyer who can develop their digital skills to a level where they can bridge the gap between the world of technology and the legal world. In addition, excellent communication skills are also a priority in these jobs. So the ideal lawyer bridges the gap between tech and the legal world, thanks to their specialist knowledge.

In which fields is there a need for lawyers who can bridge the gap between the world of technology and the legal world?

On the one hand, there is the regulatory compliance side, where there is a need for a large number of lawyers who can see both the technology and the legal side and can mediate between the classical legal and tech professions. On the other hand, on the LegalTech side, there will be a need for professionals with a deep understanding of both technology and law and who can apply it in practice. In addition, it is in the primary interest of all lawyers to develop digital skills in order to maintain and improve their competitiveness.

Without being complete, many different fields can emerge:

● Legal software development

● Tech regulation

● Compliance

● Data protection, information, and cyber security

● Legal design

● LegalTech product designer

● Compliance by design

● (Legal) prompt engineer

● Legal project management etc.

The future of legal technology is data

Next, we are focusing primarily on the world of data. Data protection is by no means a new area of law, it has long been a fundamental right. As different types of data have become the “new gold”, their value has increased, and so has the potential for breaches.

Globally, all major legal systems already have privacy legislation in effect. As data has become more important, so has the need for more complex regulation. There is no digitalization and no artificial intelligence without data, and the quality and scope of the data used determine the characteristics of the product. Artificial intelligence learns from the data, and the output will be what the data is. Such an area cannot therefore remain unregulated.

The EU is a world leader in data regulation. The set of EU rules on data is complex, as illustrated by the following list of regulations:

● GDPR

● The European Health Data Space

● DMA

● DSA

● ePrivacy Directive

● Regulation on Privacy and Electronic Communication

● Data Governance Act

● Regulation on the free flow of non-personal data

● NIS Directive

● Data Act

In addition to the strong regulation of data, we are also witnessing the “datafication” of regulation. In addition to text-mining legal tech solutions, due diligence algorithms, and software for searching patterns in judgments, it is also worth mentioning that the EU has been using the ELI system for years, which allows for better searchability, transparency, interoperability, machine readability, and significantly facilitates innovation. ELI is based on the RDF programming language, metadata, and an ontological model which, given that it is a regulatory system, must operate with a legal logic. However, data analytics also provides lawyers with an inexhaustible range of possibilities, from marketing aspects to the use of generative artificial intelligence to knowledge management.

Conclusion

Summarizing the points made above, we can conclude that there is a high demand in the market for lawyers who can bridge the gap between technology and law with their high level of technological expertise. The fields in which there is a particular need for lawyers who are well-versed in technology are, for example, data protection. The value of data, and the potential for breaches, has increased significantly, making data protection regulation extremely important. In addition, the datafication of regulation also justifies the demand for lawyers with expertise in technology.